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The Atsadi
The Tawa are an advanced and young alien race which break almost all preconceived human rules on what's necessary for intelligent life, let alone humanoid life. Then again, it turns out this is quite normal in the galaxy and humans should really get over it. The name Atsadi doesn't change regardless of what type of speach it's being used in, for instance a single individual is an Atsadi, multiple individuals are Atsadi, something made or similar to an Atsadi is an Atsadi object, one can "Atsadi" as a verb if they wanted to, and one could describe that verb as Atsadi. While it isn't clear as to why in human languages, the reason is likely due to Atsadi languages featuring luminescence to convey meaning in addition to sound. Biology : Atsadi biology and physiology is evoution's answer to "how different can it be, I mean really?" They are most similar to Earth's Siphonophorae; however such a statement is just as valid as saying humans are similar to Earth's Prairie Dog. The Atsadi themselves are not entirely biological, as seen here. Appearance : There is no exact means of describing an Atsadi in its native form, due both to their subconscious tendency to alter their appearance to imitate whatever race they come in contact with and it falling outside what humans are capable of rendering in speach. Their native form having been described by their poets as "a flare calmed" and by the first Turavids to make contact as "nebulae dressed in lace". Their "skin" tone comes in a vast variety of bright hues ranging from purple and blue all the way to yellow and red, with the exception of green. They keep this along with a series of luminescent regions above what would be the sternum, on the forehead, under the eyes, around the region which would be the bellybutton, elbows, and knees when imitating other races. : The most common race for Atsadi to imitate is the Turavids, having first made contact with them and having fought first on the side of the disidents, then forming an alliance with the loyalists in the Turavid civil war. On Rosarius II the Atsadi have however begun imitating humans in greater numbers and even a few of the humanoid natives. Zoa : Atsadi biology revolves around microscopic organic-synthetic unions. These structures, while analogous to cells in most life as humans know it, are far more similar to the zooids of colonial organisms such as the Portuguese Man o' War. Each one capable to some degree of independence. : These zooids allow for the extremely flexible appearance of Atsadi, as well as some limited adaption which falls short of only the Turavids' capacities. Their primary weakness of their zooids being that they lack the degree of tissue specialization evident in most other creatures. Atsadi lack centralized nervous systems, skeletons, digestive organs, and circulatory systems. Sensory systems : While commonly asthetically similar to Turavids and thus humans, the true nature of Tawa sensory organs is less straight-forward. Visual :: Tawa eyes are unique in their own species' physiology for their degree of centralized complexity. Their two ovoid, forward-oriented eyes feature an iris which has evolved to become clear and exist behind the primary lense of the eye and functioning much like a secondary lense. Together, their two lenses allow for exceptional focus and even a degree zoom, paramount to a race which evolved to spot minute shifts in sand which gave away prey locations. :: The overall apperance of the eye is due to their lacking a sclera, leading to a pearlescent exposed retina. While less obvious, it's easy enough to see what one is looking at, due to an increased reflectivity in the area of their eye's focus and a reproduction of the image they're viewing across the cornea-analogue. Auditory :: True to form, Atsadi auditory senses lack centralized sensory structures. Any ears they take on in mimicking another race are purely asthetic and feature no great importance in detecting sound. Instead, the entire Atsadi body functions as a receiver for soundwaves, with minute vibrations being detected in their internal humor. Echolocation ::: Related to this is their echolocative ability, focused primarily to pea-sized structures throughout their body which can give off a humming sound. When the echoes of this are picked up, the Atsadi's structures then compound their many interpretations of the sound and produce a three dimensional image of their surroundings. While limited for any sort of long-range detection, this has exceptional use in locating creatures and objects hidden beneath sand and can even produce information about the vital signs of organisms. ::: Turavids can hear the humming, though it's very quiet to them, Gjork and Humans are vaguely aware of there being some sound, but are unable to truly hear or identify it. Humans uniquely can detect them through touch much more effectively than either the Turavids and Gjork, comparing them to a cat's purr. Olfactory and Gustatory : Relatively little difference can be made between the Tawa senses of taste and smell. While separate in humans, it's a single process across handled by identical micro-structures on the surface of the Tawa's skin, with extreme concentrations along the tongue. Despite this, they're never seen using their tongue like a snake's for scent-finding purposes. Whether this is due to some cultural reason or it simply not being an instinct is unknown. Feeding : Atsadi do possess "teeth"; however these are roughly as tough as human gums and are thought to exist purely for asthetics or as vestigial traits. They instead feed through their lengthy and thin forked tongue, which ends in needle-like microscopic structures. These hypodermic-like structures are largely painless when used to puncture skin and are then used to draw up blood from the organism. This entire process being aided by the Atsadi's body fluids including saliva, which contain mild tranquilizing and hallucigenic compounds. : It's not clear if this form of feeding was an adaption to lacking the large and biologically expensive digestive tracts of other animals or their desert environment requiring a more water-rich foodsource. However it's common among a number of organisms in their biological order, implying this trait evolved quite some time ago in their evolutionary history. Communication : Atsadi communication features equal parts light from their bioluminescent structures and sound. While it is possible to speak with several in their languages without being bioluminescent, one would likely come across as a four year-old with a limited vocabulary and poor handle of grammar. Because of this, they've spearheaded many of the efforts to create common languages between species, including New Common, a variant of the Turavid empire's Upper Common adapted for use by all known sapient species. New Common has quickly displaced Upper Common and many colonial languages to become the most commonly spoken language behind the Gjork Dominion's Lower Common, another adaption of Turavid language. Reproduction and sexes : Atsadi, unlike the other races do not possess two sexes. Containing only a female-analogue, which while in theory have no gender, are often referred to using female pronouns. While male-female dichotomies do exist in several species in their biological family, their particular genus lost this trait early in its history due to a disappearance of a Y chromosome analogue from their genetic code. This ancestory places them in a strange place, while completely unnecessary they retain several vestigial traits of sexual reproduction not dissimilar to female Human or Turavid anatomy. : Reproduction centers around contact with other Atsadi or any species which feature similar patterns of Oxytocin fluctuation. Often associated with love, their reproduction is controlled via an Oxytocin-based process known as Clouding. Clouding :: Not reaching sexual maturity until around age twenty-four, Atsadi will begin engaging in affectional bonds long before that age and typically carry their sexuality far more casually than other races because of it. These bonds, following sexual maturity most commonly feature two individuals but easily contain over a dozen at times and focus around the exchange of hormones. These hormones eventually trigger a process in the Atsadi known as clouding, where the individual's normal semi-transluscent form becomes clouded with floating genetic material from their many zooids mingling. This process typically occurs over 72 hours and eventually settles into a zygote and then a fetus in the abdomen. Following a seven month pregnancy, the Atsadi will deliver an infant known as a Sadi which immediately begins mimicking the mother or caregiver's appearance. Genetic variance and fatherhood :: Due to there being no exchange of genetic information, Atsadi possess no "father", with every member of the bonded group acting as another mother. Due to this, genetic lineage also has very little impact on Atsadi cultures. Genetic variance is maintained not by mating interactions of external individuals, but by the numerous zooids internally exchanging their genetic information in an incalculable number of configurations. Birth spacing and solo reproduction :: All Atsadi bond-pairs or groups regulate the reproduction rate of individual Atsadi via hormones, ensuring no two births are too close together. Strangely for an asexual species, Atsadi cannot reproduce without at least one partner. :: Atsadi in bond-pairs or groups outside their species lack a natural means to birth spacing aside from environmental factors such as prolonged stress or poor nutrition. Often rellying on artificial means when necessary. This is relatively rare however, given that they can only begin reproducing around age 24, with each birth featuring a twenty-year postpartum period before they can reproduce again. Place in galactic history Under construction Life on Rosarius II Under construction